Now that's a lesson....

I gave up on participating in experiments in lieu of taking on babysitting gigs. Neither are particularly lucrative, however, nor are they particularly taxing. It's also cash in hand at the end of the day, which I like.

Right now I'm watching three-year-old twin boys. Despite a rocky start (Twin #2 screamed nearly the entire first day, and both have a tendency towards tantrum-throwing), we are really hitting it off. Every day, I ride my bike up to their house and I hear scampering little feet running to the door shouting, "She's here, she's here!" Then, we spend the next eight hours riding tricycles, walking to the park, shopping at the corner market, drinking copious amounts of juice, and scribbling with sidewalk chalk. When this gets old, we move on to my favorite child care strategy....PAT bus tours. PAT takes a lot of criticism, and like most forms of public transportation, I do not rely on it heavily for its punctuality. However, this can really work to your advantage when you are trying to entertain three-year-olds for hours on end. Waiting for even one bus ride can usually burn up at least a half an hour. If you ever ride the bus, you know about the jerky, sudden stops and lurching gait one acquires while attempting to make your way to the front. When three-year-olds are busy clinging to your hand and the rails to keep from tumbling over, they are too busy to be making trouble or throwing tantrums.

Twin #1 is in the "but, why?" phase...this is his standard response to everything. So, yesterday, as we were getting off the bus and getting ready to cross the street, I warned them about the dangers of running into a busy street, and made them hold my hand. Twin #1 launched into his "but, why?" thing, which continued even as we safely made it across the street.

Just then, some punk kid went running across the street, against the light, and got hit by a car. Bam! Never have I been presented with so relevant an answer to a "why?". (Don't worry, the kid was a little bloody, but was still up and moving around.)

And that's WHY, Twin #1...so there.